Since 2012 was a leap year, the year-earlier period benefited from an extra day of sales, the realtor association pointed out. Taking away that additional day, a 28-day comparison would show a smaller decline of 10.5% in sales, TREB said.

The city’s condo market continued to underperform the overall market, with sales activity slumping 20.2% in February, and prices falling 2.5% to C$331,597.

TREB President Ann Hannah noted that the federal government’s stricter mortgage lending guidelines unveiled last year continued to have an effect on sales of luxury detached homes — or those sold for over C$1 million – which fell 15.5% from a year earlier.

“This contributed to a more modest pace of overall average price growth for the [Greater Toronto Area] as a whole,” Ms. Hannah said in a statement.

Overall, sales of detached homes in Toronto were down 16.1% from a year earlier

Jason Mercer, TREB’s senior manager of market analysis, said Toronto’s housing market will continue to see some volatility in price growth in 2013, with the average price of a home in the city forecast to end the year at C$515,000.

And while Toronto’s housing figures don’t appear to be stellar, they aren’t as bad as what’s happening on the country’s west coast. On Monday, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said home sales there fell 29.4% last month from a year earlier, while prices were 3.3% lower.

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Canada Real Time provides insight and analysis into what’s making news in Canada, a country punching above its weight on the world stage thanks to its vast resources and strong banking sector. Drawing on the expertise of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, we take a look at developments in fields ranging from business to politics to culture. You can contact the editors at canadaeditors@dowjones.com